Nobody had a better all-around Week 9 in the NFL than did the Atlanta Falcons

One could argue that nobody had a better week in the NFL than the Atlanta Falcons. Not only did they beat America's Team at home to improve to 6-3 on the year, but chaos ensued across the division. While a six-point home win does not do the game justice, Atlanta pummeled the Dallas Cowboys all afternoon. Meanwhile, the Carolina Panthers won their game over the collapsing New Orleans Saints.

Atlanta not only flexed at home over the NFL's most popular franchise, one that looks to be in complete disarray under head coach Mike McCarthy, but the Saints are in utter shambles after losing their seventh game in a row after a 2-0 start. Derek Carr has now lost to 31 of the NFL's 32 franchises. He will have a chance to lose to all 32 should he start and lose to the Las Vegas Raiders later this year.

More importantly, that seventh loss in a row was enough for Gayle Benson to get Mickey Loomis to pull the plug on Dennis Allen. He is now the second NFL head coach to be fired mid-season. As for Carolina, they won with Bryce Young over New Orleans. This means he could get more opportunities to start after previously getting benched in favor of Andy Dalton. Atlanta is sitting back and laughing.

And then what happened on Monday night was the cherry on top... Atlanta's toughest competition in the NFC South race would be the team the Falcons already won the season series over in the 4-5 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They lost a nail-biter to the Kansas City Chiefs like Atlanta did earlier in the season. The Falcons are not only two games better than Tampa Bay at 6-3, but own the tiebreaker.

All the while, Kirk Cousins has played out his mind as the newest frontrunner for NFL MVP honors.

Atlanta Falcons had a Week 9 to remember across the entire NFL slate

This may be the team I root for and follow along with the closest, but you cannot argue against how much everything seemed to break in the Falcons' favor over the last few days. Atlanta got the win at home to build back up some more positive momentum heading into the Saints game. New Orleans is in its worst spot since before Sean Payton took over. Carolina is still bad, while Tampa Bay is unlucky.

Magic numbers are not really a thing in the NFL since it is much easier to visualize with their being so fewer games than an MLB season. However, I would say that will win this division with the 12-5 mark that I forecasted to start the year. While their final eight games are a bit harder than I expected, keep in mind they are 4-0 in the division and 6-1 vs. NFC South opponents with their only loss to Seattle.

Over the previous six seasons, the Falcons were one of the hardest watches in football. Oh, they would play in a ton of exciting games, but always found a way to lose them. After three straight 7-10 seasons, Atlanta is already one win away from matching that mark and two from surpassing it. Not since 2017 has Atlanta boasted a winning or made the playoffs. The tides seem to be turning here.

Not that Dallas was that great of an opponent to begin with, but given what happened across the division this past weekend, I think the rest of the NFL has started to pay attention to what is going on in the Dirty South. I would venture to guess that either Atlanta, Minnesota or Washington will be the team playing Detroit for the right to go to Super Bowl 59 in New Orleans. What if Atlanta won it there?

For now, Dirty Bird Nation must sit back and reflect on the good times the team is currently having.